Heavy rains triggered flash floods and caused torrents of cold lava and mud to flow down a volcano’s slopes on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, killing at least 41 people and leaving more than a dozen others missing, officials have said. Monsoon rains and a major mudslide from a cold lava flow on Mount Marapi caused a river to...
The Japanese government is planning to trial an artificial intelligence system for spotting wild bears to better deal with an increasing number of attacks by the animals on humans, a government source said Monday. Under the system, AI will use security camera footage to instantly detect bears and share the information with the...
Armenia agreed to return four villages that have been under its occupation for three decades to Azerbaijan. It agreed during the eighth meeting of border demarcation commissions, chaired by Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, gathering along the countries'...
Indigenous peoples and local communities are reporting a series of tangible and nuanced impacts of climate change, according to a new study. The study collected 1,661 firsthand reports of change in sites across all inhabited continents and aggregated the reports into 369 indicators of climate change impacts, including changes in...
At least 800 people in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province have been evacuated after multiple eruptions of the area's Ruang volcano, which for days has spewed lava and ash clouds into the sky, the country's volcanology agency said on Wednesday....
Bhutan and Bangladesh to strengthen cooperation across various sectors Asia News Network (ANN) is the leading regional alliance of news titles striving to bring the region closer, through an active sharing of editorial content on happenings in the region.
Lawmakers in Thailand’s lower house of Parliament have overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill hat would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender. The bill passed its final reading with the approval of 400 of the 415 members of the House of...
More than two million animals have died in Mongolia so far this winter, a government official said today, as the country endures extreme cold and snow... But this winter has been more severe than usual, with lower than normal temperatures and very heavy snowfall, the United Nations said in a recent report....
On the day that Indonesia went to the polls — Valentine’s Day, February 14 — Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), accused Jakarta’s military of continuing its “reign of terror” in rural West Papua....
By the end of yesterday, Macao had recorded more than a million visitor arrivals across the ongoing Lunar New Year holiday, the Macau Post Daily reports....
Quick count tallies by independent agencies show the pair with nearly 60 per cent of the votes. Indonesia’s presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka are ahead of their rivals in the Feb 14 polls, unofficial quick counts of sample ballots showed....
Separatist fighters who seized Phillip Mehrtens say he will be released to protect humanity and safeguard human rights, but did not say when. Rebels in Indonesia’s West Papua region have said they will release a New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage a year ago as a bargaining chip for their independence movement....
Bandarban district administration has safely evacuated 240 families from the bordering Ghumdum area in Naikhongchhari of Bandarban district. The evacuation was made on Wednesday following an instruction of Bandarban Deputy Commissioner Shah Mozahid Uddin. They will stay in a safe place until the situation becomes normal, said...
The Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) requested Laos at a meeting on Monday to join the other 164 countries attending the Ottawa Convention while Cambodia is chair and hosts the 5th Review Meeting of the organisation....
Three Cambodian activists arrested in Thailand will not be deported to their homeland and will be resettled elsewhere, a deputy police chief said on Wednesday, after human rights groups had raised concern about their fate if sent home.
There are now seven known species of soft-furred hedgehogs, which look like a cross between a mouse and a shrew
2,500 people contracted measles in Kazakhstan last week. 342 new cases were recorded over the weekend, Orda.kz reports....
Activists have hailed the legal recognition as a victory for LGBT rights. Taiwan is the only other place in Asia that has legalised same-sex marriage
The rich cultural heritage and linguistic diversity, which were at risk of extinction due to lack of written script, have seen a grand revival with the help of social media, especially voice messages, Bhutan Live reported. The Kingdom of Bhutan, a land steeped in rich cultural heritage and linguistic diversity, lies in the heart...
The military’s long-standing policy of “divide and rule” is breaking down as ethnic resistance groups gain the upper hand across the country. It is notoriously difficult to track battlefield developments in Myanmar’s sprawling civil war. The conflict involves countless armed groups, broadly sorted into territory-holding...
Two days after rebel forces in Myanmar’s Chin state overran the junta’s two military bases close to the border with India, they have taken control of a border crossing point between the two countries across the tiny hilly Indian state of Mizoram....
Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu today pledged that immediate action will be taken against those found to be hoarding rice seeds. Speaking in Parliament today, he said authorities have already made arrests related to rice hoarding in 20 locations....
North Korean nationals continue to run a restaurant in Laos to earn income for the Pyongyang regime, a new U.N. report shows, despite international sanctions that ban such activity....
The military responded to attacks by anti-junta forces with air and artillery strikes. After four days of intense battles with the military in northern Myanmar’s Sagaing region, armed resistance groups have occupied the city of Kawlin, but residents and aid workers say the fighting has displaced 50,000 people, stoking fears of...
Acting Head of Statistics Indonesia (BPS) Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti reported that the rice production trend in Indonesia steadily decreased from 2021 to 2023, during the September to December period....